Ancient Legends

There's a legend in this valley about a ghostly horseman that rides by night. There are many such legends and for schoolteacher Ichabod Crane the darkness of night holds a special fascination...and fear. For often there is truth in stories, especially ghost stories. And one fated night, Ichabod Crane will discover that the horseman of the legend is indeed... headless!

A chalice that caught the blood of Christ as he died slowly on the cross. Or is it? This is the truth behind that most enigmatic of Holy relics, the Holy Grail. Prepare for a shock.

A lot of ink has been spilled covering the lives of history's most influential figures, but how much of the forest is lost for the trees? In Charles River Editors' Legends of the Middle Ages series, readers can get caught up to speed on the lives of the most important medieval men and women in the time it takes to finish a commute, while learning interesting facts long forgotten or never known.

Atlantis - the mythical city that was first mentioned by Plato in his Timaeus and Critias. While largely believed to be fictional, Atlantis has made its way into literature and manages to flourish over the years. Through time, the myth became a legend that eventually enticed individuals to delve into this ancient city and find out whether Plato's references are mere fiction or actually a fact.

Wildly swinging axes and swords upon majestic boats, Vikings have been a long-appreciated symbol of rage and power. They have been romanticized as overbearingly-manly warriors that plunder, loot and pillage villages all for the sake of dominance. They've always been in modern media, but where did they come from? How did they start? What brought them to the apex of influence that still makes them relevant up to this day? Their colorful history starts in the form of a migration. These warriors started out as nomads looking for new places to inhabit to prolong their lineage.

Believed to have been penned around the eighth century BCE or seventh century BCE, the Iliad and the Odyssey served as both entertainment and a moral guidebook of sorts for the ancient Greeks, as well as the foundation for Western literature. Although there is some scholarly debate regarding the epic's authorship, it is generally attributed to Homer. Given that he lived nearly 2800 years ago, not much is actually known about Homer; even his birthplace is debated.

How did the world begin? What did the ancient Greeks know about the very beginning of time? Greek Mythology teaches you how the primordial forces of nature came into being out of Chaos. You'll learn about famous names like Gaia, Erebus, Eros, Nyx, and Tartarus, and you'll meet the Titans, the Olympians, and the heroes.

You may have heard about him: Attila the Hun. Let's discover who this individual actually was and why he has such a bad track record of being a callous, aggressive conqueror in the first millennium after Christ. Attila the Hun was the ruler of the Huns from the year 434 till his death in the month of March in the year 453. Also, he was the leader of a tribal realm which consisted mainly of Huns, Ostrogoths, Alans and Bulgars, to name a few, in Central Europe and in Eastern Europe.

Out of the great halls of Asgard, home of the Norse Gods...came one of the greatest Norse legends. Thor, powerful god of thunder, and his brother Loki, the trickster, were eager to resolve an argument: does strength always win, or do brains always beat brawn? To find an answer, they travel to the strange and forbidding land of giants. There they will face a series of challenges that will prove once and for all which god is right. Or will it?

Jason was born a prince of the kingdom of Argos. But when Jason was a child, his uncle Pelias stole the throne and sent Jason into hiding. Now a young man, Jason returns to claim his birthright. But Pelias only sneers. He demands that Jason prove himself by retrieving the priceless magical Golden Fleece from the far-off land of Colchis. Jason accepts the challenge and gathers a ship full of Greek war heroes to aid him.

Quizás los más famosos poemas épicos jamás escritos, La Ilíada y La Odisea han sido leídos por cerca de 3.000 años, haciendo de ambos, dos de los escritos más antiguos del mundo occidental. Los poemas hicieron fácilmente reconocibles a personajes como Páris, Helena, Odiseo, Aquiles, Héctor, y Áyax, y han influenciado a otros poetas antiguos como Virgilio, cuya Eneida claramente está modelada a partir de ellos. Los poemas épicos literalmente pusieron a Troya en el mapa, motivando a Heinrich Schliemann a buscar y finalmente a encontrar la ciudad de Troya en el siglo XIX.

At a time in antiquity when most of Europe was covered with forests and wandering tribes, Mexico had already developed complex civilizations, beginning with the Olmecs and followed by the Maya, a civilization with advanced knowledge of medicine, engineering and astronomy. The Maya calculated the precession of the equinoxes and cycles of the Pleiades, on which they based their year, since they believed they had come from that constellation.

The Tower of Babel: Legend or History? reveals our shared ancestry as never before! Have you ever wondered if the Tower of Babel story was about a real thing? Certainly, many scientists and historians try not to confirmed its existence, but according to many, people were simply too dumb to have created such a thing 6000 or 7000 years ago.

After finally winning the decade-long war against the Trojans, Odysseus, captain of the Greek army, only has to guide his men back home across the sea. Yet the journey will prove just as perilous as the battles they have just won, as they encounter the monstrous, man-eating cyclops, the irresistible song of the siren, and the wrath of an angry Poseidon, god of the sea. Are he and his men destined to die at sea? Or can Odysseus's cunning, strength, and courage bring them safely home?

Could a monster whose very look turns men to stone be a challenge too perilous even for the son of Zeus? King Polydectes has designs on Perseus' mother, Danaë. But first the king must get rid of young Perseus once and for all. So Polydectes hatches a plan to trick the young hero into performing an impossible task - slay the snake-haired Gorgon monster Medusa, whose very look turns men to stone. Yet, as the son of Zeus, king of the gods, Perseus has many powerful allies. Will Perseus' strength and courage - and the favor of the gods - allow him to do the impossible?

Unmatched in its wealth of mesmerizing tales, Greek mythology continues to spellbind humanity millenniums later, and the gods are certainly the epicenter of it all. The infamous affairs of Zeus, the wrath of Hera, the irrepressible greed of Poseidon, the notorious infidelity of Aphrodite, and the vengeance of her husband Hephaestus - the Greek gods are quite the topic of intrigue. Enriched with the most enthusing accounts, this audiobook familiarizes you with the celebrated Olympian gods. Each god is discussed at length, accompanied by stories that heighten their intriguing disposition.